11 April 22-28, 2021
OPINION Filam push ...
EDITORIAL
T
The America First caucus is a sham
he America First caucus was in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. The loose organization is plain and simply a collection of white supremacists, at best, and outright terrorists, at worst. Under the latter, they are klansmen who no longer see the need to don masks. They want to see an America that is dominated by Anglo-Saxon thought and ideals, whatever that means. They also reject immigrants for diluting US culture. Yes, it does not make sense to us, either. To nobody’s surprise, the leader of the caucus is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who suddenly backtracked on her planned launch of the movement this week after receiving flak from her own partymates. One unapologetic supporter of America First is embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has been building himself up as more Trump than Donald Trump himself. The controversial lawmaker, however, may soon find himself out of a job depending on the results of the ongoing investigations on his questionable relations with young women. Or girls, to be precise. And speaking of the 45th president, he is without a doubt the spiritual leader of the proposed caucus. Unless private citizen Trump rejects in no uncertain terms his links to the caucus, he will find himself pushed to the fringes of the GOP. If he is not yet aware of it, the caucus has all the makings of a PR nightmare, one he should not be part of if he is to remain in the good graces of the GOP leadership. What we find most disturbing about America First is that it was formed at all. It is now 2021, yet the few who believed it was time to create such a caucus want nothing less than to revive the dangerous McCarthy era of the 1950s. All its would-be members need to do now is to wear white leather gloves, raise their clenched fists, and yell, “White Power!” There is, however, one big difference. They not only believe themselves to be members of Adolf Hitler’s master Aryan race, shouting down and bullying nonwhites is not enough. Today’s white nationalists have no problem purchasing assault weapons and brandishing them in public. It is from their ranks that many of today’s mass shooters have appeared. Their inexplicable hatred for Jews, Muslims, gays and nonwhites, among others, coupled with the easy availability of weapons designed for use by the military, has resulted in this year’s spike in mass murders. For now, the America First caucus has been relegated to limbo, at least temporarily. Greene has even disowned the sickening language attributed to the caucus, saying she never read it. We would very much like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but her past statements and actions tell us that she is only reworking and rewording the caucus’s reason for being. Soon, the US will no longer be a predominantly white country. This is what the America First caucus fears. They believe that the US has always been and always should be predominantly white. They conveniently forget that less than half a millennium ago, this country was predominantly red. Just ask the Apache, Arapaho, Cherokee, Commanche, Cheyenne, Crow, Lakota, Navajo, Pawnee, and Sioux nations, among others. They’re also known as the First Americans.
Upside
(From page 1) erna vaccine to mitigate the spread of Covid19. At press time 20, the pandemic has infected 953,106 in the Philippines and taken 16,141 lives, according to the Philippine Department of Health website. “Call to Action and Unity of FilAm Communities: Humanitarian Response to the Philippine COVID Crisis” was coordinated by Filipino American Voice United and the Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce. Attendees heard from Commissioner Herman Martir of CHERIE M. QUEROL MORENO the US President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, PH Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez and Senator Manuel Pacquiao. Some 20 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been ordered and are expected to arrive in the Philippines in July, Consul General in San Francisco Neil Ferrer confirmed. That Former congressional staff now Colma, California, resident shipment would SSF Vice Mayor Mark Nagales Aurea Ocampo Cruz said she supplement the 3 (with wife Amy) says wri� ng will write legislators repremillion doses of lawmakers is eff ec� ve. sen�ng her state and district Sinovac and Asto support the trans-Pacific traZeneca vacpush to ship the Moderna vaccines already in distribution, he added. Proponents of the movement reaching out to US law- cine to the Philippines sooner makers seek shipment of the Moderna vaccine earlier than July. than July. Recently Philippine-based media reported that a “private sector group” led by billionaire Enrique Razon was involved in a “tripartite agreement to secure 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines” due to start arriving in June. Said agreement reportedly splits the shipment with 13 million doses for the Philippine government and 7 million for the private sector. “’When deliveries arrive at the end of the second quarter, we shall immediately roll out our vaccination program for employees, their direct dependent and extended household members, said Razon, head of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Some sectors of the community are initiating a move to appeal to their lawmakers in writing, a popular strategy in advocacy. The letter-writing campaign can be effective, South San Francisco Vice Mayor Mark Nagales told author. Nagales, a legislative aide for many years to California Assembly Member Gene Mullin and then to US Congress Rep. K. Jackie Speier said a(Continued on page 27)
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